Just seen some evidence from various studies that this can help with depression....

Anybody ever tried it? Any joy?

Hi Psychocandy again! I have nothing to report as of yet. I have just started taking 5-htp this week. So let's see if it's of any use!!

I'd be interested to know how you get on with it. Good luck and keep us posted !!!! :-)

p.s. Nice profile pic. LOL :-)

I've had GREAT success with it. 100 mg/day. Make sure to take it with some carbs, cuz if you take it with protein, it'll bind to the protein and you won't absorb it as well. The only thing for me now, is to find out what's safe to take during pregnancy! (it's not safe to take during pregnancy)

I'm sure I can find some carbs !!!!

Is it safe to take with existing ADs ???

I would like to know more about this too? Is for depression, anxiety? Does it combat weight gain. I am afraid to try something like this becasue I am already on a SSRI. Soes anyone know if the 2 can be mixed?

I tried 5-htp and it made me very sleepy. That is the very reason I got off of meds. Apparently raising serotinin can cause drowsiness. I'll just stick to Sam-e and a good diet.

You should not take L-tryptophan or 5-HTP supplements if you take a medication that increases serotonin, like an SSRI or SNRI. Doing so could induce serotonin syndrome, which can be dangerous, even fatal.

Some people take L-tryptophan or 5-HTP to ease the withdrawals from an SSRI or SNRI, and some people take them as antidepressants themselves. I've tried both, and they're definitely relaxing, although not nearly as powerful antidepressants as pharmaceuticals, in my opinion. If your depression or anxiety is mild, you might do well with it.

If you do try it, I suggest starting with the lowest dose to see how you react. If I took more than 500mg l-tryptophan / 50mg 5-HTP, I'd be groggy and irritable the next day. As they say, more is not always better.

I've tried 5-htp and just about every supplement, vitamin, mineral, fish or other oils, most herbal supplements and still use most of them. I can't really say that any of them really helped with my depression or anxiety. Really hard to quantify though, maybe I'd be worse without them.

I just started taking 5-HTP yesterday as I am no longer on any medication and I need something to help. I am taking a 100 mg caplet per day right now. The bottle says take it up to 3 times a day but I find that pretty high so I'm going to start out with just one caplet. No difference in anything yet of course but I'd be happy to keep updating to let others know how it's going.

Is the sam-e any good?

Hi folks

This is my first post on this site .. as I've only just joined up. And I'll post an introduction about myself at some point on the appropriate forum!

I haven't got around to reading ALL of the info for new members as yet, just enough to work out some of the basics

I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to the site admin, the mods and organisers for the wonderful work that your all doing here .. this is an excellent and valuable service that y'all are doing

I've been looking into the relationship between Mood and Food and how carbohydrates and protein levels effect - serotonin, trypophan, dopamine and norepinephrine reactions for some time. .. . A very dear friend of mine who is seriously health conscious and who also has a Masters degree in Science and Biology sent me some very insightful dietary info a few days ago, which I'm going to try out for myself to see what effect it does have with my mood and my energy levels. My own history of health issues include - ADD, mood swings (possibly bipolar 2), anxiety, depression, CFS, IBS and currently .. lethargy. .. . Apart from that lot, I'm doing just fine. But I do have my moments



I'm not from Tasmania, just the next state up from that one. Although I do have the odd bout of mania

From the research that I've done in the past about diet and neurotransmitter function, the information below looks to be spot on to me, and it could be of use to anyone who experiences disorders such as: anxiety, depression, mood swings, CFS, ADD, etc - And as it only describes how to go about normalizing brain chemistry, mood and energy levels through the correct use of diet, food reactions and their combinations, it shouldn't pose any of the same sort of risks and side effects (if followed correctly), as the pharmacological type substances often do.


I did read something about how we're not meant to post website links without prior consent from the admin, so I won't post the web links to this info until I read up some more about the correct protocols. .. . The names of the researchers involved in these studys are contained in these brief discriptions (below), and their detailed research can be found by doing an internet search. .. . If anyone wants to look into this a bit further for themselves!


The Relationships between Mood and Food -

Research by Judith Wurtman, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has focused on how certain foods alter one's mood by influencing the level of certain brain chemicals called neurotransmitters.

Wurtman has reported that people are more alert when their brains are producing the neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine, while serotonin production in the brain has been associated with a more calming, anxiety-reducing effect (and even drowsiness in some people). A stable brain serotonin level is associated with a positive mood state. It appears that women have a greater sensitivity than men to changes in this brain chemical. Mood swings during the menstrual cycle and menopause are thought to be caused by hormonal changes that influence the production of serotonin.

How does diet play a role?

The foods that increase the production of serotonin in the brain are high in carbohydrates. Many kinds of carbohydrate foods such as candy, cereals, potatoes and pasta, can produce a temporary increase in brain serotonin, and cause a subsequent calming or anxiety-reducing effect.

This explains why people may feel drowsy in the afternoon after eating a large meal of pasta, since a rise in serotonin in the brain can also lead to drowsiness. Carbohydrates affect brain serotonin because they increase the amount of tryptophan in the brain. Tryptophan is the amino-acid precursor of serotonin.

The two other important brain chemicals that appear to be influenced by foods are: dopamine and norepinephrine. These produce a feeling of alertness and an increased ability to concentrate, with faster reaction times.

There are two possible mechanisms for how this happens:

1) serotonin production is blocked by the consumption of protein-rich foods, resulting in increased alertness or concentration.

2) levels of dopamine and norepinephrine are increased by the consumption of protein-rich foods.



The Seven Steps of Potatoes Not Prozac - by Dr. Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.

If you do the steps in the order I recommend, you will get dramatic results if you follow the plan as it's outlined. The food plan I will show you is designed to change your blood chemistry and improve your neurotransmitter function. Even though it may seem obvious and simple, the foods in this plan actually create profound physical and emotional change. Don't be deceived by the simplicity. Because this is very powerful medicine!

5-HTP is the precursor to serotonin. It crosses the blood brain barrier unlike serotonin, and proceeds to make serotonin inside and outside your nerve cells. With that being said it can directly increase serotonin synthesis. It is not worth supplementing with because you get enough of the substance in red meat, poultry, dairy products, and eggs. If you are a vegan, then you would want to use it. Especially if you are a vegan raising a newborn as a vegan as well. Don't waste your money.

Thanks for that info trevorjoe. It is spot on for me. If I eat tooo many processed carbs and am not riding my bike every day to burn them off, I feel soooo tired, sluggish, even hungry. I gain weight on tooo many carbs and not riding my bike every day. I can't take 5 htp, it makes me very anxious. So that seems to say my serotonin level is just fine. I seem to need more dopamine and norepinephrine. I've just the past 4 weeks increased my protein to almost Atkins like levels, and I feel sooo much better. Losing/maintaining my weight even not biking anymore. If I slip up and eat tooo many processed carbs, my stomach really hurts.

Do you know which neurotransmitter St. Johns Wort affects??

Could you 'pm' me the links you have?? I would like to read more.

Hi mmf,

More than happy to PM you with those links!

Something that my biologist friend recently said to me was that an overly high protein diet (such as Atkins), can in time cause depression. I suppose because it blocks the uptake and manufacture of serotonin. So you'd want to be careful to include 'some' carbs in your diet to help counteract that. Perhaps the evening would be a good time for you to have some carbs, as that will increase your serotonin levels and help you to sleep. I also find that plenty of protein makes me feel better, and too many carbs makes me feel sluggish, tired and bloated, as well as not satisfying my hunger.

I don't know how effective St. Johns wort actually is?

But I just did an Internet search on St. Johns wort + neurotransmitters, and came up with this info from a German study -

Current St. John's wort research from mode of action to clinical efficacy by WE. Muller .. Department of Pharmacology, Biocenter J.W. Goethe University -

The current status of preclinical and clinical research is summarised. St. John's wort extract has a clear inhibitory effect on the neuronal uptake not only of serotonin, noradrenaline, and dopamine but also of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and L-glutamate. No other antidepressant shows an approximately equally broad inhibitory profile.


If that information is accurate mmf, then St. Johns wort would be blocking everything, and it's not selective about it. So I don't know about how safe it would be to be using that one?